A production data processing environment, or production environment (PE), is a configuration of data processing systems using which an operator of the data processing environment provides a service to an actual user, such as a business providing a service to a customer. For example, a banking organization operates a production data processing environment using which an actual customer of the banking organization performs a transaction with real money in the customer's account.
A development data processing environment, or development environment (DE), is a different configuration of data processing systems using which the operator of the production data processing environment develops, tests, or troubleshoots a service that is either being provided to the actual user in the operator's production environment, or is planned to be provided to the actual user in the operator's production environment. For example, the banking organization operates a development data processing environment in which either a customer transaction is simulated or a transaction from the production environment is recreated. For example, an actual customer of the banking organization does not interact with the development environment to perform a transaction with real money in the customer's account.
The separation between a production environment and a development environment is important for a variety of reasons. For example, when a new service is being developed, it is likely that the service may not be stable and may cause a system crash or data corruption. Therefore, the development or testing of the service is not desirable in the production environment, where a system crash can adversely affect other customer transactions, and where data corruption can, for example, corrupt real account balances. Therefore, the development and testing activities are performed in a development environment where a system crash, data corruption, or other adverse events do not disrupt the business operations of the operator of the production environment.
As another example, when an existing service encounters a failure in the production environment, presently, it is undesirable to troubleshoot the service in the production environment for similar reasons. For example, presently, the troubleshooting activities in the production environment can adversely affect real customer transactions, cause a disruption of a system or service, or corrupt the production environment's data. Therefore, the troubleshooting activities to determine and remedy a cause of a failure in the production environment are presently performed in a development environment where a system crash, data corruption, or other adverse events do not disrupt the business operations of the operator of the production environment.